An identical incident almost occurred in September 2007 on the Metra Electric District. The tracks carry passengers to the south suburbs and northwest Indiana.

Someone removed 12 spikes from a rail immediately south of the bridge over the Bishop Ford Freeway.

In that case, Metra officials said at the time, the spikes were removed from the outer track on the edge of the bridge, at 100th Place. A special crowbar-type device used to remove spikes was found in brush nearby.

A track inspector found that the spikes had been removed.

Officials said at the time that if a train had passed over the rails, it most likely would have derailed at speed, during a rush hour, and plunged onto the Bishop Ford.

Meantime, the agency has put more security in stations and is working closely with homeland security.

” don’t know you can say you’ve done all you can do,” said Metra CEO Alex Clifford. “I just want you to know we’re very serious about doing everything we can possibly do to ensure the safety and security of our customers.”

At the time of the incident, FBI spokesman Frank Bochte called it sabotage. But Metra spokesperson Judy Pardonnet said Thursday night that officials at the commuter rail agency don’t recall the FBI ever placing blame.

“Now we can bring it to the attention of law enforcement for review, and find out, in fact, if there was a final finding in that investigation,” she said.

CBS 2 reported at the time that the FBI checked for possible connections to a domestic violence case involving a Metra engineer, and whether the incident was linked to gunshots that were fired at two Metra trains on June 6 and 8 of that year. But there was no subsequent mention of these suspected links.

Metra and CTA have both been the recipients of Homeland Security grants that have enabled them to install additional security cameras both in stations and at other critical infrastructure points on their rail systems, such as at junctions, in tunnels and around bridges.

Commuters React
WBBM 780’s Dave Berner talked with commuters Friday morning about the threat. Most commuters say they are taking any threat in stride.